Arena
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: ClassicTrek: Season One:
Arena
I have two nits from the Classic Guide under this episode. First, Phil says that the Gorn walking down the road was cut for syndication, yet he lists it under "Plot Oversights". Generally in the Classic Guide "syndicated" nits are listed under Syndication Cuts.
Also, Phil states that the ability to manufacture gems must have been developed "between the time of this episode and the time of Catspaw". However, Arena`s stardate is 3045 and Catspaw`s is 3018.
So how did the Gorn make Spock's tricorder explode? Could they do that to Jem'Hadar equipment?
So surely that makes the nit even worse? The Federation could manufacture gems on stardate 3018, but then forgot by 3045. Probably filed it in the same place as the Romulan cloak, the Telekenesis, and everything else.
What is a reconstituted meal anyway? Is it a fancy term for leftovers?
It's a meal that has been dehydrated or somehow "reduced" to an easy to carry, long shelf-life item. It's reconstituted by adding water or some other substance.
There are reconstituted meals available today. You can buy some at camping supply stores. Or, for that matter, at the supermarket; ever had Lipton Cup-a-Soup?
Did anyone notice that when Kirk and Spock are in
the crater where the tricorder overloads(the
armory or arsenal, I forget what Kirk calls it),
that apparantly someone walks by them off-camera.
You can see a shadow and hear some rustling.
I saw this on the home video. Someone let me know
if this has been mentioned before in a newsletter
or somewhere else. It may have been cut for
syndication.
Why would a tricorder explode? What's the purpose of an exploding tricorder? A self-destruct mechanism if it falls into enemy hands?
The tricorder must have its own power source, or else it would need a really long extension cord. This power source could be rigged to discharge all its stored energy at once, causing an explosion.
A self-destruct mechanism would be a good idea, too. If a Star Fleet officer had been using his/her tricorder to record data while spying on an enemy, s/he would want to destroy the evidence.
Why didn't the Enterprise sensors detect the destruction of the colony? Did the person manning the sensors just think the colonists had dug a bunch of pits for a barbecue and the damaged buildings were just a renovation project?
Several times in the Classic Trekkers Guide, Phil commented about the trapezoid-shaped doors that pop up on various planets and even Federation space stations. Well, after Kirk and company beam down to Cestus III they are standing next to the remains of a wall with a trapezoid-shaped door. Oddly enough, the other visible doors on the other buildings appear to be standard rectangular doors. (Maybe that is what ticked off the Gorn. Build a colony on one of the planets, no problem, but use rectangle-shaped doorsBlasphemy! Now you must die!)
Comedian Blake Clark had a funny routine about the impossibility of Rambo running past exploding mines, I was reminded of that routine when Kirk and Spock each run by the exploding mortars. Basically, the explosions should scatter material, pieces of the shell casing plus pieces of the ground, with extreme force, not unlike the force of a bullet, but the worst thing that happens is Kirk is knocked down by one explosion, gets up and runs to the crater. The Gorn need to work on their explosives, they're just not powerful enough.
When trying to find out where the attackers are, dialogue indicates that they are in an open area, but that they might move to the more easily defended mountainous area, something the Gorn try to do before being blasted with the photon grenade. Since the Gorn lured the Enterprise to the planet with a false message, why weren't the Gorn in the mountainous area to begin with? For that matter, why not just hide in some of the buildings and wait for the landing party to beam down? That armory would have made perfect cover and they could have used the weapons inside.
So why didn't the Gorn destroy or steal the weapons in the armory? They've been on the planet for about three days, plenty of time to find and destroy a large cache of weapons.
Supposedly, Cestus III is part of Gorn territory, but when the Gorn fly away they pass by the Metron star system. If Cestus III is part of Gorn space then why didn't they know the power of the Metrons? Is it just that there had never been two alien ships flying by, each with a desire to destroy the other?
When Kirk complains about the Metrons interfering, the Metrons respond with, "It is you who are interfering." Interfering in what? Kirk just wants to destroy a ship that is responsible for destroying a Federation colony. Do the Metrons want the Gorn to continue destroying colonies?
If the Gorn moves so slow, then why does it bother throwing a punch? Even if it had hit Kirk with the punch, the Gorn moved so slowly that it would not have even raised a bruise.
The Gorn's speed is highly inconsistent. Sometimes, like when throwing the punch, it moves really slow, but then when it throws the boulder it's arms move much faster and it's walking speed occasionally changes also.
Spock says that Kirk must find a carbon deposit, well the next thing shown is Kirk finding a carbon deposit... diamonds. Diamonds are the crystalline form of pure carbon.
Where did Kirk's recorder go? Didn't the Metron give Kirk and the Gorn captain a recorder so that others would listen and learn? However, when Kirk is returned to the Enterprise the recorder is gone. (As is the little belt that held it.)
Lieutenant-Commander Kelowitz is wearing lieutenant's braids.
Sulu misses when trying to hit his helm controls when the landing party is about to beam up. (Did he mean to hit a switch with his hand?)
The Enterprise takes *forever* to reach the Gorn ship once the latter has fallen out of warp to a complete stop.
The Metrons provide a complex film of the battle.
One presumes they are hoping for an Emmy.
There are multiple shadows cast on the planet. Maybe the Metrons like camera lights too?
When Kirk has the dagger to the throat of the Gorn captain, it isn't there in the shot of the close-up of the Gorn's face.
I've been wondering lately if this script was really based on Fred Brown's short story Arena.
Except for the premise of a greater power getting two people from enemy races in an area to fight to the death, there are not a lot of similarities.
So did someone buy the rights to the story, then write the script to be more like Star Trek, or did someone write the script, the research department read it and felt it was too similar to Fred Brown's story, and then they bought the rights to Fred Brown's story to avoid a lawsuit?
Actually what happened was that Gene Coon wrote the script and then as it was slated for production realized that he had unintentionally and unconciously plagerized Brown's story. So Brown was quickly contacted and asked if the rights could be purchased. Fortunately, Brown was a big fan of the show and was tickled pink to be asked for the rights to his story, so he agreed.
Thanks.
Now I'm wondering if he liked the episode? (Especially since it wasn't a straight adaptation.)
It would have been more realistic to show the Gorn injured somewhat after Kirk dropped the boulder on him. He gets up and resumes his chase like nothing happened. Kirk's leg was slightly injured after the Gorn's rock-trap got him. That made sense.
Also, I think that the huge falling boulder would have done as much, if not more damage to a humanoid than the diamond-cannon at the end did. I think if I had the choice of being shot with a 9mm or having a huge boulder drop on me I'd go with the bullet.
When Kirk finds the sulphur, he begins talking about it....however...his words don't match his
lips.
There also seems to be an odd sparkling effect behind the Metron when he appears and talks....
almost like a mirror.
RUMINATIONS:
This Episode gives us an idea of just what the
Enterprise is capable of doing....
A.The ship's phasors were used
B.The photon torpedoes were used (first time)
C.The ship soared at warp 8.
But the sensors missed the bomb craters, all the dead Federation people, and all the Gorn soldiers hiding.
Best part of this ep is Vasquez Rocks. I love an episode when you can go visit the Planet!!! :=)
TRIVIA:
This is the episode that Bill & Ted were watching
in the movie "Bill & Ted's Bogus Adventure"
They even get "killed" there!
It's "Bill & Ted's Bogus JOURNEY"
Most Triumphant!
Most Excellent, dude!
Like I forgot the title!
It's been a while since I seen that flick on cable.
My brain must have skipped a groove!
When Kirk finally defeats the Gorn, Kirk holds
the Gorn's pointy weapon to the Gorn's throat... however, the weapon isn't there in the close-up.
In the closing stills....the creators use a different shot of Vina-the Orion "lust chicken" than before....how do I know it's a
different shot? The wooden flute player in the background is missing!
Finally...an explanation of my mistake on "Bill & Ted"...I quite simply got the titles "Excellent Adventure" & "The Bogus Journey" mixed up.
My sincerest apologies to all Bill & Ted fans everywhere!
Phil was wondering in his book why there is a road on the planet where the fight is taking place... well, I think I have the answer....
The planet is one of the planets the Metrons lived on at one time and they used to have vehicles like we do...but when they discovered how to teleport from place to place, they abandoned their cars and the roads fell into disuse.
Watch Cestus III in the beginning of this episode.
Under the green layer of Atmosphere you can pick out traces of Earth's continents. India features prominently in one shot.
This same effect happens in Shore Leave.
They must have had some real serious problems with the editing in this episode.
I mentioned earlier that during Kirk's interlude about the elements on the "Arena" planet, his words don't match his lips.
Well it was worse than that earlier in the episode... after Kirk beams up to the ship, he makes a log entry...you hear his voice-over during the fly away of the Enterprise...but when they cut away to the Bridge, you hear Kirk say something else during his own voice-over.
When the battle is over, Kirk orders the Enterprise to go back to Cestus III at warp 1.
Warp 1 ????
They were pursuing the Gorn ship at warp 8
and now they're going back at warp 1 ?!?!?!
Those nurses and doctors left behind at Cestus III
are going to be waiting there a very long time at the speed the Enterprise is going.
Equiptment Oddity:
When the Metrons allow the crew of the Enterprise to watch the fight, watch carefully...
When Kirk realizes that the elements for gunpowder exists on the planet surface, he begins scampering around for them. All the shots show Kirk picking up the items...then suddenly the camera focuses on a pile of coal...where is this camera mounted? Kirk's head?
I must add that Spock also saying "Good" during the whole thing is silly...Kirk can't hear him!
All the camerawork and production was done by ASPN, the Alien Sports Network. They also provided coverage for the Enterprise in "The Gamesters of Triskellion" and "The Savage Curtain".
A very familiar line emerges from this episode:
"The Enterprise is the only starship in the quadrant"...Kirk says this in his quarters to Spock.
Continuity error:
Everyone seems to have trouble saying "The Metrons"
The Metrons say it: "Met trons"
Some of the crew say: "Met trowns" (as in: tr- owns)
Anti-nit. The Guide says Kirk "pops" into a scene as he runs toward the camera.
On tape, it seems Phil is correct. If you watch the DVD, however, you'll see Kirk is there all the time. Some sort of error in the film processing left everything faded (the ground, the rocks, and Kirk, to the point it seems he's not there.
JBA
When McCoy injects the wounded man with a hypo, there's no hissing sound.
When Sulu bangs the helm buttons, there's no clicking or beeping sounds.
>>"The Enterprise is the only starship in the quadrant"...
I've often been amused by how much that line covers for the fact that the Enterprise MUST go somewhere in the galaxy when another ship might do just as well. Being the only ship in the quadrant would mean that 25% of the Milky Way Galaxy is currently being patroled by ONE starship!
Who says quadrant refers to the galaxy? Quadrant is simply one-fourth of something be it a donut or the universe.
Using quadrant specifically for the galaxy started with the NextGen episode The Price.
At the time of this series the term quadrant probably meant something else (it would seem to be interchangeable with sector). The name may refer to an old system of calculating volume & the term was used even though it didn't make much sense. (How many Rods per Hogshead does your car get?;-)
Actually I've noticed a lot of SF writers use quadrant incorrectly. I believe in a later episode they refer to a quadrant 809.
I was using Okuda's Star Trek Encyclopedia. They stated a quadrant was one-fourth of the Milky Way galaxy.
The Okudas state "In interstellar mapping, a quadrant is one-fourth of the Milky Way Galaxy." They go on to name them - Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma. However, they also state that quadrants and sectors have been used inconsistently in various Trek canon, so based on that, Kmorgan's comments bear listening to.
I think the original "Outer Limits" also used the same Frederic Brown story as source material. Was theirs called "Fun and Games?"
I believe that this ep is also used in the "Coneheads" movie, early on. The guy tracking satellites is watching "Trek."
The plot for Arena was also stolen by Fred Freiberger for his "Rules of Luton" script for Space:1999
Continuity Problem
Early in the episode Spock makes comment of reading an alien lifeform, then they are attacked. Kirk calls the Enterprise and asks for everyone to be beamed up.
Sulu: Captain, we're coming under attack. Unidentifieds are quartering in. We can't beam you up, I've just rigged up defensive screens.
Kirk: Keep those screens up. Fire all phasers.
Sulu: (fires phasers) Firing phasers, Captain.
When the shot changes to show the phaser beams streaking out of the Enterprise, the view is from below and in front (to give a good view of the phaser banks), but the starfield is moving the same as if the ship were at warp, giving the impression that the ship is "sort-of" moving backwards while it's firing.
(VERY early in the episode) The set of Cestus III is ALL a set! There are no matte paintings, fake horizons, etc. The set is very large! This ep must have been one of the more expensive ones to produce. (unless the re-used some other set that was nearby)
Elmer Fudd is still employed as the final credits manager..."SCPIPT SUPERVISOR...George A. Rutter"
William Shatner blames his tinnuitis on the explosions in this episode. He stated on his A&E "Biography" that this condition has driven him to think of suicide.
I think it's also mentione dLeonard Nimoy also has it, but not as bad as Shatner.
Kirk's crew complains about the way the Klingons eat and smell in Star Trek 6; can you imagine how much worse it must have been for the diplomatic teams that had to talk peace with the Gorns? Somehow, I don't think the Gorns would eat with knives and forks and spoons, let alone little sandwiches and potatoes.
Actually, it was Burke and Samno who complained about the smell, and Chekov who complained about their table manners.
SCREAM QUEEN AWARD....2ND PLACE goes to Uhura when the Captain is whisked from the Bridge.
(First place went to Aurelan Kirk in "Operation: Annihilate!")
It's my best guess that the shuttlecraft was immobilized by the Metrons too...otherwise, Spock would've sent one out to find the Captain.
To try & kill the Gorn, Kirk rolls a huge boulder down on the Gorn...however,later in the show,after Kirk picks up the bamboo tube, you see him hobbling up a cliff..it's the same cliff that Kirk rolled the boulder from.....AND guess what?..The boulder is back on top of the cliff!
(The Metrons are environmental friendly people!)
After Kirk gets the diamonds from the pile, he instantaneously appears at the pile of sulfur...not too bad for a man with a broken leg!
Must be a General Electric.
The little screen on Spock�s tricorder doesn�t come on when he is crouching with the others in the foxhole during the ambush in the beginning of the episode.
Well, cannonballs do "disrupt" whatever they hit, I guess.
The Gorn apparently have weapons technology comparable to the Federation, but the artillery they use on the planet when attacking the landing party, which are referred to as "disruptors" by Spock, make whistling sounds before detonation/impact, much like primitive cannonballs.
So which inanimate object has a better sense of direction, Kirk or the grenades?
During the attack on the landing party, Kirk prepares a grenade launcher, pointing it straight ahead in front of him, at an angle of about 50-60 degrees. He asks Mr. Kelowitz where he thinks they are, and Kelowitz says that if he were the unknown attackers, he�d be on the right, and points in a direction substantially to the right of Kirk and the grenade launcher (to the left of the TV viewer), at "1200 yards, at an azimuth of 87." Even though Kirk appears to fiddle with some dial on the launcher, he not only doesn�t alter the azimuth of the launcher (perhaps because the launcher was already at a sufficient azimuth or close enough), but he leaves it pointing in the other direction! Even odder, the shot of the detonation is at the location Kelowitz suggested, indicating that the grenade did go off to the right! Are grenades self-guided?
Is that with fuel injection?
During the chase after the Gorn ship, Kirk asks for the Enterprise�s position, and Depaul answers 22.3 parsecs beyond chart limits. A parsec, or parallax second, is 3.2 light years. 22.3 x 3.2 = 71.36 light years. When Kirk asks Sulu for the Gorn�s speed, Sulu says the Gorn is at warp 6 "also", meaning the Enterprise is also at warp 6. Kirk then orders warp 7, and later, warp 8. Since Cestus III is obviously in space known to the Federation, let�s assume for generosity�s sake that it sits right at the edge of charted space for the Federation. According to page 555 of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, volume II., warp 6, under the NextGen calibration system, is about 7.3 under the original series system, and NextGen�s warp 9.2 is equal to TOS� warp 11.8. Since these two NextGen-to-TOS warp ratios is 1 to 1.2, TOS� warp 6, the speed the Enterprise was traveling when Kirk asked for a position reading, is equal to NextGen�s warp 7.2. Since it would take just over 3 days to travel 5 light years at this speed, according to the chart, it would take 43.79 days to travel 71.36 light years at TOS� warp 6. Are you telling me that the Enterprise was chasing the Gorn ship for almost 44 days? (More, if charted space ended some distance away from Cestus III during the chase.)
Gorn. Deh girlie men of deh galaxy!
By the time the Gorn picks up the boulder, Kirk has scrambled up a hillside. The Gorn, still at ground level, hurls it at Kirk. The shot of Kirk shows the boulder coming toward him, but the shot of the Gorn shows him throwing it as if toward someone standing at the same level as he is, not above him. Since the boulder is really a foam prop, the actor playing the Gorn could�ve easily have thrown it upward at the proper angle.
Well, these Metrons may be all-powerful, but they can�t edit for sh*t!
At one point, shortly after the Enterprise bridge crew are given the ability to view the duel, they are watching it on their viewscreen, and a long shot shows Kirk blinking into existence next to a huge boulder. The creators probably figured the viewers wouldn�t notice because the image of Kirk is so small. Nice try, guys!
William Shatner, graduate of the Kung Fu Movie School of Dialogue Dubbing.
When Kirk makes a log entry after sitting down next to the sulfur, his lips and the dialogue are out of sync.
They were all playing One, Two, Three, Red Light.
Sometimes it�s hard for actors to portray behaving naturally in certain situations, especially in stories with science fictional elements, like instantaneous transportation. I know this is really grungy nitpicking, but right before Kirk appears back on the bridge at the end of the episode, everyone on the bridge, (Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, Bones, and the helmsman) is frozen, staring at or in the general direction of Spock, for no reason, saying and doing absolutely nothing, and Spock is staring at Bones. Then Kirk appears, and everyone comes to life!
But just think of the frequent flier miles they�ll rack up.
Why did the Metrons transport the Enterprise 500 parsecs from where they were? That�s 1,600 light years! If the Enterprise�s new position at the end of this episode is in a straight line with Cestus III and the area of Metron space the Enterprise and Gorn ship was captured in, and they were captured 71 light years away from Cestus III, as calculated above, then they are 429 parsecs away, or 1,372 light years! Since it takes over three days to travel 5 light years at warp 6, as mentioned above, it�ll take well over 823 days, or two years, three months. Was this some kind of Metron practical joke?
OK, think of the frequent flier miles they can leave to their descendants.
Even odder, Kirk doesn�t order course set back to Cestus III at warp 6. He orders warp 1! Warp 1?! At warp 1, the speed of light, it�ll take 1,372 years to get back to Cestus III!
We recycle everything. Paper, aluminum cans, and plots.
Does this episode seem at all to ring a bell to you classic sci-fi television aficionados out there? It should. Ever see the original series Outer Limits episode, "Fun �n Games"? See a similarity? You should! Both episodes were based on the exact same short story by Frederic Brown!
Uh, Luigi...I like your little footnotes before each nit...however, some of the nits you mentioned above were already noted and logged.
I suggest caution...some people might get upset.
However, I don't mind...it's nice that other people see what I saw.
Sorry, John.
Sometimes I've skimmed through the nits to see if I'm treading where others have before, but this time I didn't. It takes so long to cut and paste my nits from an episode, put all the formatting tags and in some cases think up of the headings (if I already haven't made them for a certain episode), that I guess I can be impatient.
Since different people might note the same nits, but argue them differently or use different reasoning or arguments when pointing them out, I leave mine in, so I can make the joke heading.
I also noticed someone recently posted a nit on one of the Voyager boards (I think it was for Endgame) that had already been posted. Since some of those boards can grow to 300 K or more, I wouldn't expect someone to read the entire board. Some of it may be nits, but some may be extraneous digression on subjects the new poster doesn't care for. 
What if.....John Cleese or someone from "Monty Python" played Kirk?
This is how it would look on the strange planet....
Kirk (Played by Python Character): "I have encountered a being the Metrons call a GOOOOORRRRNNNN!"
>John Cleese as Kirk
"Remember, the ambassadors from Ekos are coming aboard . . . so don't mention the war!"
or:
"I mentioned it once or twice, but I think I've gotten away with it." (after mentioning the war dozens of times)
Ekosian ambassador: "Will you please quit mentioning the war!"
Kirk: "Well, you people started it!!"
Ekosian: "We did not start it!"
Kirk: "Yes you did, you invaded Zeon!"
Bravo, Todd!
I'm getting out my Fawlty Towers tapes right now.
McCoy as played by Cleese:
"Dammit Jim, this man is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his Maker! This is a late man! It's a stiff! Bereft of life it rests in piece! If you hadn't sent him down with us he'd be pushing up the daisies! He's rung down the curtain and jouned the CHoir Invisible! This is an ex-man!"
Scotty as played by Cleese, speaking to his "bairns":
"Start will you...!! Start you vicious [deleted!]! I'm warning you! If you don't give me warp speed by the count of three... one... two... three... RIGHT! That's it! I've had enough! Well don't say I didn't warn you! I've laid it on the line to you TIME and TIME again! That's IT!! I'm going to give you and your nacelles a D*MN GOOD THRASHING!!!!"
And if Uhura were to cash in on this new behaviour, instead of saying "hailing Frequencies Open" she would say, all the time, "Oh yes.... oh I KNOW.... I KNOW.... oh I Know... yes... well just you hold your head up high... oh I KNOW.... [etc.]"
And, re Ekos, as Kirk, in the middle of a rant:
"Well let me tell you this - this is exactly how Nazi Germany started!..."
KIRK: Mr. Sulu, set us a course for the nearest star base, warp factor one.
SULU: Que???
"This .. is a Romulan Warbird. The Romulan Warbird cannot be seen. This is because they are taking our course in cloaking technology.
"Would the Romulan Warbird please decloak."
(Warbird decloaks and is instantly annihilated in a searing hell of antimatter torpedoes.)
"This demontrates the advantage of Not Being Seen."
---
Back on topic, the plot of Arena was also copied in the first series of Blakes 7.
Off topic again (sorry),
but I just got this wonderful mental image of Barclay and Worf doing the Fish Slapping Dance...
Spock, Spock, Spock, Spock,
Spock, Spock, Spock, Spock,
Lovely Spoooock, wonderful Spoooock!
Lovely Spoooock, wonderful Spoooock!
[etc.]
Hopefully that's the last we'll see of the Monty Python jokes... I just didn't expect this kind of Spanish Inquisition....
-- NO-ONE expects Section 31!!!!!
The scene I always find absurd is when Kirk is under fire on the planet, but takes time out to give specific battle orders to 'experienced combat officer' Sulu on the ship.
"Fire phasors", "Fire photon torpedoes", duh, couldn't Sulu figure that out for himself?
"I think therefore I am,
but I am micromanaged, therefore I am not" - Dilbert
Nit: Sulu says they're 500 parsecs from where they were. Kirk tells him to go back to Cestus III like it wouldn't be much trouble. 500 parsecs is approximately 1600 light years. Too bad Voyager doesn't have those kind of warp engines! Not only that, but Kirk orders Warp 1 to go back to Cestus III!
Cannon observations: Is the sulphur/gunpowder cannon a tribute to the grenade mortar from the Cestus III scene?
The grenade mortar looked awfully contemporary (20th century).
Early in the episode, when Kirk and McCoy are checking out the injured man, Spock says he detects a "non-human" lifeform. The conversation continues:
Kirk: Where?
Spock: Azimuth 93 degrees ... range 1-5-7-0 yards.
Kirk then sends a redshirt to check it out. The man moves forward perhaps 10 yards, then says, "Captain, I see something!" He then immediately gets disentegrated.
If my math is correct, 1570 yards is approximately 9 tenths of a mile. First of all, the terrain must be VERY flat for the redshirt to "see" something that far away. (the planetscape would seem to suggest it may be very flat) Second, .9 miles is far enough away for the Gorn to have very sophisticated weaponry in order to kill the redshirt with a direct hit. Either that, or the Gorn brought down a sharpshooter with a scope. Thirdly, Spock reports the distance in YARDS ... (not meters, kilometers, etc)
I think this episode would have been much more exciting if Species 8472 had popped up in the middle and started trashing both Kirk and the Gorn...
BTW, I heard from someone (apologies if it's been mentioned anywhere before) that the reason we've never seen the Gorn on any subsequent Trek series is because Paramount do not have the rights to them any longer. The same goes for the Tholians and various other 'interesting' designs. Thus we find the species reduced to mere mention in episodes of Deep Space Nine, for example...
"It's a Tribble!" "No... Iss a Hamster!"
(sorry... I promise no more John Cleese quotes)
Loads to nit in this one - I especially liked the 'shadow' that passed over Spock and Kirk in the bunker. I wondered to whom Spock was talking when he started murmuring "Gooood!" - Kirk couldn't hear him: was Chapel on the bridge? And how the heck did he recognise that white powder from that distance? It could have been talc, chalk, heroin....
I wondered about Kirk boxing the Gorn's ears... am I right in thinking a lot of reptiles don't have ears (snakes certainly don't)?
And how did the Gorn fake the call signal? They don't even have humanoid sounding voices... just a lot of hissing!
And which ballet school did the Metrons graduate??
Sorry if I missed it above, but was this the only episode where the shields were referred to as screens throughout?
And I loved the Monty Python / Basil Fawlty stuff!
Kirk beams down. Sees devastation all around him. Calls Enterprise. Reports that Cestus 3 has been destroyed. The entire planet. The third planet in the Cestus Solar System. Cestus 3. The planet Kirks standing on. Okay then..
Maybe he was referring to the colony? The folks up on the ship should know what Kirk was referring to. Its like If New York got Nuked and someone said New york is destroyed, Buffalo would not be happy but hey so what.
It just annoys me that Kirk seems to have the observational abilites of a dead hippo here. Its like that thing in Simpsons where Mr Burns got shot, he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was then transferred to a better hospital where doctors upgraded his condition to alive, the same mentality seems to apply here.
NANJAO:
It's been already noted just how tough the Gorn was hard to bring down, but how about that Gorn ship?
Sure, we never saw it...but it survived several full phaser blasts and several photon torpedoes from the Enterprise.
Grumbar; your comment about New York getting nuked is a chilling premonition of what would happen a week later. Ironic, isn't it?
Very. ;:-[
Everyone sees this, everyone knows this, but no one ever speaks up. The wooden cannon never would have worked properly. A basic mixture of gunpowder 2 to 3 cubic ft. vol. would have blown at least blown a hole through Kirk if not blown him to pieces. I think most people (including the chief!) see this as entertaining/exiting and want to believe it, so they don't say anything ...
I'm not sure, but I don't think potassium nitrate is blue.
Each time the Metrons contact the ship they announce "WE-ARE-THE-METRONS", they do it at least twice. If they are so "advanced" why do they need to keep doing this ?
Why doesn't Kirk attack the Gorn with the universal translator (an oversized x-acto knife) ! stab the Gorn in the eye ...
What the hell is the Gorn made of ? The diamonds do not penetrate it. If that was the case what made Kirk think a dirty icecycle would penetrate.
If the Gorn is intelligent enough to build a vehicle for space travel why didn't it just simply, step out of the way of the rock-or duck ? dur ,,,
I could go one about this forever.
Actually, i think the chief DID mention that in one of the books... but i'm not sure.
IIRC he mentioned that Kirk should have wrapped the excess rope around the cannon for more strength. He also mentioned that he knew people who did make bamboo cannons in the Phillipines.
Oh, gttroassi, just because diamonds are hard doesn't necesary mean that they have a sharp edge. The diamonds Kirk used may have been blunt enough not to penetrate the Gorn, but the obsidian knife did have a sharp edge. Glass can cut better than sharpened steel.
Ok, I now remember where I read something like this. It was in the Babylon Files (or something like that) for the episode about Grey 13.
Ok, that should have read the Babylon 5 episode about Grey 13.
The chief said in his classic trekkers guide that he had friends in the phillipines that fashioned gasoline cannons from bamboo tubes. I don't know exactly what gasoline cannons are or how they work but it is a lot more feasable and possible to use the materials Kirk had to make a grenade type weapon considering how unstable something like that actually is. I once lit a mixture of potassium chlorate and granulated table sugar in a small glass ashtray, halph of it burned in 2 to 3 sec. the rest exploded the ashtray. It extremley dangerous and unpredictable, for further reference look into ammonium nitrate disaster in Texas City 1947.
What has always bugged me about this episode is that I always thought that when the Metrons said that "The place we have prepared for you contains sufficient elements for either of you to construct weapons lethal enough to destroy the other", that Kirk had figured out how to construct a weapon when it turns out that the cannon didn't work and Kirk had to take the Gorns pointed stick and put it to his neck. So therefore the Gorn had it right the whole time. A Pointed Stick..
Years ago I used to make crude cannons out of soda cans that were capable of propelling a tennis ball 40-50 yards, so I think Kirk's cannon would have been workable.
No, don't try this at home. I was lucky no one got hurt.
I used to make acetylene cannons from sewer drainpipe (DO NOT! try this at home, leave it for experts and trained proffessionals only.) that would launch a softball about a football field away. So I think Kirk's cannon would no doubt have worked at least once. Bamboo is rather strong (one of my friends is in marshal arts and has a bamboo training sword which hurts like heck if he hits you with it...) so it should be ok. I just wouldnt have wanted to try it twice. As for the diamonds, maybe the Gorn's skin/muscle is really dense and the diamonds didn't penetrate but definately caused some internal damage (ribs,spleen etc...). Sorta the way a Bullet Proof vest will stop the actual bullet but allow the force of the impact to pass on through. We didn't see how long it took for the Gorn Captain to get back to his ship and their sickbay or what his condition was when he got there.
During Kirks ordeal with the Gorn he narrates he's on an asteriod, how does he know this ? He didn't have the aide of the ship ...
Is there any definition of 'asteroid' which would allow it to have Earth-like gravity and atmosphere? All solar asteroids are far to small.
To my knowledge there are no official rules on what makes something a planet or asteroid.
In general an asteroid is a meteoroid over a kilometer in diameter.
The smallest known planet is several thousands kilometers wide.
That's as close to any definitions I've been able to find.
There has been a move to change Pluto's designation from a planet to either a planetoid or an asteroid.
NY Times article (Free Registration required).
In the beginning of this episode, Kirk and Spock are stranded on Cestus III, making Sulu in command of the Enterprise. Yet he's at the helm. Shouldn't he be sitting in the captain's chair?
Can someone tell me, where exactly are Vasquez Rocks?
Between Santa Clarita and Palmdale, off CA-14, Agua Dulce Canyon Exit.
Thank you, ScottN. Most kind.
I have a nit. As Kirk readies the cannon for firing, he tears off a piece of his uniform and sets about trying to ignite it by creating a spark. Once he gets a spark going, he uses the fabric as the fuse to light off the cannon. Are we to believe that Star Fleet uniforms are not flame-retardant? There's no way it should have caught fire.
cazbob,
Everyone but the captain has a flame resistant uniform. Good catch.
You would think his should be the MOST flame retardant, considering how hot it gets inside his pants!
Oh, that's why he ripped a piece of his shirt an not his pants!